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I’m honestly not sure if it’s my red hair or just the fact that I’m a woman who speaks her mind, but there’s something bigoted afoot and I’m having none of it.
THE STUDY
I shared an article this week from JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) conducted by Harvard and USC, that shows female physicians make significantly less than their male counterparts:
In the late 1980s, male physicians earned $33,840, or 20 percent, more in annual salary than their female counterparts. By the late 2000s, that grew to a 25.3 percent gap, a difference of $56,019 per year. The same trends showed up among dentists and physician assistants, but not pharmacists or health insurance executives. (Women account for almost 50% of US medical students and more than one-third of all physicians.)
The study was conducted from 1987 to 2010 and considered specialties. Read more if you want specifics.
THE REACTION
Comments across my social media range from (all men, mind you):
- Maybe women need to work a little harder.
- In order to make the same pay, you have to do the same work.
- Just female propaganda.
- More whining by feminists.
Call me idealistic or just plain naive, but WHAT THE FUCK? Seriously, how can men still believe this? ‘Do the same work?‘ So did the females not go to, and graduate from, the same medical schools as their male counterparts? I’m stumped. Is there a different, remedial Harvard Med School just for women?
It shocked me, and I’m still seething. Must be all that dreaded estrogen coursing through my veins.
INSIDER KNOWLEDGE
Or maybe it’s because I was in the pharma industry for over fifteen years, calling on both male and female physicians — I saw firsthand the long hours they work, the sacrifices they make to their personal lives for their patients, the lack of funding from insurance companies — all in the name of their career of helping people. Yes, it’s still a male-dominated industry, but that is changing. And no, the females I saw weren’t OB/GYNs or pediatricians — typically female specialties (I sold blood pressure meds). The majority were cardiologists, endocrinologists, and internists, typically male specialties now being taken on by competent and highly-trained females doing the same work.
THE ASSUMPTIONS
The assumptions these guys made about women astounded me. One fella, whom I really like quite a bit and wasn’t being a jerk about it, explained that ‘maybe women earn less because they’re making greater sacrifices for their family — working less hours,’ and that’s possible. Though I feel that’s a generalization, given that men now have a much greater hand in child rearing than ever before, and many of my female physicians were breadwinners. I did see where he was going with that, but wouldn’t that be discriminatory, also?
A $50,000+ wage gap is significant. Sure, we’re talking doctors here, so everyone knows they’re rich. Ha. Most doctors have huge student loans to pay off, families to raise, tuition to pay for, or perhaps no family or spouse because of the demands of the job — no different than most of our, or any, educated population.
So why should women be earning less? Is that Head of Cardiology at Hoag Hospital (Orange County’s largest hospital), with her Harvard-educated hands in someone’s chest daily, less qualified because she has a vagina? Is her brain smaller and less able to handle a high degree of difficulty because of the estrogen coursing through her veins? Does she deserve to earn less because her breasts get in the way of her doing her job?
OF COURSE NOT.
I feel sad for men who still, in this modern day, think women are inferior. I don’t know if it’s because of their upbringing, religious and/or political beliefs, or some deep seated Freudian hatred for women, in particular of women who are more successful than they are. And maybe that’s the issue: it’s about that fragile male ego. Women in the workforce push society forward, while men like that continue to (unsuccessfully) attempt to hold us back. It’s offensive and hardly worth arguing over.
MY CONCLUSION
But we must speak up for ourselves, my female friends. We absolutely must argue. And we thankfully have the support of many more enlightened men who, like me, are offended and astounded by the bigotry in these comments. These men give me hope for a future that doesn’t look at male or female, politics, religion, or skin color, but that looks for the best.
Simply, the best.
What is your conclusion? I’d love to hear.
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Janie Junebug says
September 9, 2013 at 1:15 pmThank you for coming right out and telling it like it is. When The Hurricane (my daughter) gave her high school valedictory, her topic was that women still earn less money than men for the same work and men need to get used to having women working in technology and scientific fields. She majored in math and physics and is now getting her Ph.D. in math at Berkeley. She is a member of Women In Mathematics and attends some of their conferences. She also started a program to welcome female students to the math program. We women have to stand up for ourselves and each other. My mother told me that I would never be able to hold down a job because I would fall apart if something went wrong. I told my daughter to follow her passion. She has, and I’m so glad; but she still has to put up with some men who want to give her a hard time, and, unfortunately, some women who think that what she’s doing is worthless. No way is The Hurricane’s work worthless. People who think she doesn’t accomplish anything as a mathematician are showing their ignorance. No one ever wonders why a man wants to be a mathematician.
Love,
Janie
RachelintheOC says
September 9, 2013 at 2:19 pmJanie, SO TRUE! Thank you for sharing your story.
We have friends who have a daughter who is incredibly talented in anything math and science. She’s A++ every year (she’s in high school now) and in looking at colleges, her parents are encouraging her to pursue those fields of study for the same reasons your daughter has (and Brava! to her). While being a talented singer and actor also, it’s these subjects that she’s pursuing and I couldn’t be prouder.
I love your nickname for your daughter, too. What a fabulous mom you are!
xx
Janie Junebug says
September 10, 2013 at 12:04 pmThank you very much. I suggest that your friends’ daughter check out Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. It’s a small school where the students are taught by the professors, not by teaching assistants, and they receive a lot of attention and support. Students graduate from Grinnell in four years. It’s required, unless they get special permission to stay a fifth year for a second major or special project. It’s not easy to get into Grinnell, but it’s worth it. It’s also considered one of the most difficult colleges in the U.S. Obviously, it was a good place for The Hurricane. She deferred Berkeley for a year so she could go to Cambridge for a master’s. Her adviser at Grinnell (and his family) are still her friends. He’s now at Stanford. When he was advising her, he and his wife had her over for dinner regularly. I think it’s wonderful that Grinnellians can enjoy such close relationships with their professors.
Love,
Janie
Casey Sheridan says
September 9, 2013 at 2:19 pmI was shocked to read the comments that some of the men made. It’s ridiculous to think a woman doesn’t work as hard as a man. She probably works harder.
“Is that Head of Cardiology at Hoag Hospital (Orange County’s largest hospital), with her Harvard-educated hands in someone’s chest daily, less qualified because she has a vagina? … Does she deserve to earn less because her breasts get in the way of her doing her job?” These questions you asked made me think. It seems to me, our vaginas and boobs are getting in the way of men doing their jobs. More women in the workforce means more boobs (and more pussy) to ogle. So, men are doing less work.
Okay, so I don’t really believe that men are doing less work. But I do agree with you: WHAT THE FUCK?
RachelintheOC says
September 9, 2013 at 4:58 pmThanks, Casey. Yea, the argument is ridiculous and I love how you turn it and make it even more ridiculous!
I probably would have been more shocked at their comments if I hadn’t spent so many years in the corporate environment and experiencing gender harassment/discrimination firsthand. Sadly, nothing surprises me anymore. The fact that I have at least one guy per week (usually more) wondering how I have ‘skirted the system to be successful’ confirms it. It couldn’t possibly be talent or intelligence. #eyeroll
thanks for reading and commenting! xx
Julia Rachel Barrett says
September 9, 2013 at 9:25 pmThe question to ask is this (and I haven’t read the study)– Are the salaries averaged? Or are the physicians compared head to head? It does matter.
I’m an RN married to a physician administrator. The female physicians working with him in similar administrative positions are earning a similar salary. I’m quite sure several of his female co-workers are earning much more than he is because of their previous administrative experience.
Female physicians often work part time, choosing to make time for an equally important job, being a parent. This skews salary averages downward. Many women choose to specialize in pediatrics, family practice or OB/GYN. These sub-specialties earn less money than say a thoracic surgeon or a gastroenterologist. This also tends to skew salary averages downward.
Do women work less hard than men? Of course not. But the reasons for the salary disparity may not be simple. Insurance reimbursement, medicare reimbursement, medicaid reimbursement is the same whether you are a man or a woman. Now I have to go read the article, see what criteria was used.
RachelintheOC says
September 9, 2013 at 10:32 pmThanks Julia — good, valid points. They do say that healthcare execs and pharmacists are not subject to the same disparity. And I’m sure there are some specialties’ issues that create the lack of parity.
It’s not really the study itself that got me going, but the various comments I received from the guys. THAT more than anything is what I find upsetting.
Do let me know what you find out!
xx
Julia Rachel Barrett says
September 10, 2013 at 12:59 pmThe study looked at physicians only in an academic setting. It’s long been known that there is not gender equality in terms of pay in academic settings in many fields, not just the field of medicine.
I would take this study much more seriously if it involved physicians in the general community- those in private practice, in group practices and working for HMOs.
Academics is another animal altogether.
Ciara Ballintyne says
September 12, 2013 at 2:38 amWhen I was a child, there was a sign in my aunt;s kitchen that read “Women have to do twice the work to get half the recognition”. Sadly accurate as it turned out.
The pay gap exists across many professions (including in law, although thankfully working at an all-woman law firm, it’s not an issue I face). The argument ‘maybe they work less ours’ isn’t valid, because professionals are usually paid salary. They get paid the same regardless of the hours they put in. Also, input isn’t a valid measure of productivity. I work 8 hours and no more as a lawyer, and I am the most productive person – work smart, not harder. Typically women ARE more productive, because they get on with doing the job, and waste less time than men on politics, ego stroking, posing, and comparing dick size. My husband even remarked to me that he prefers working with women (he recently changed roles from male-dominated to an office with a number of women) – because, he said, they get the job done!
The pay gap can’t have anything to do with the productivity or effectiveness of women. I think it probably has more to do with women posing a threat to the male ego.